Mo Banerjee (book character)
For the character from the movie, see Mo Banjaree. Mo Banerjee: Mohini,' '''or best known by her freinds as '"Mo','"' has to be the prettiest, smartest, most popular, and not to mention the friendliest girl in the fictional town of Opequonsett, Rhode Island, where the book is set. A talented bass player, Mo strives for perfection and believes that she is destined to achieve great things in life. She has several relationships, two of them being romantic: briefly dating Scott Pickett until she caught him cheating, forming a friendship with Rajeev Kumar, her old next door neighbor from Calcutta, whom she used to play in the sand with when she was a baby, and carrying on a loyal, committed, romantic relationship with her now-boyfriend and drummer of Lemonade Mouth, Charlie Hirsh. According to Mo, her father and mother are very strict and perhaps sometimes a little uptight, such as when she mentions that if she gets a detention or even kissed by a boy, they might disown her, but they soon lighten up to the idea of Mo's new-found independence and her love for Charlie, even thought they're not entirely fond about their daughter dating an American boy. After kissing Charlie at the end of the first book, Mo and Charlie date well into the summer between their freshman and sophomore year. Most of Mo's storylines in the first book were her constantly trying to be a good girl to please her overprotective parents, struggling with peer pressure, her secret relationship with Scott, her growing feelings for Charlie, and subsquently her identity of being from India and getting raised in an American culture. Story Lines: Early Life: In the book, Mo was born in Calcutta, India, where she used to play in the sand with her next door neighbor Rajeev Kumar. However, her parents moved to America to give their baby a better life. Because of this, her mom and dad are imperialistic and very strict with their daughter, who knows they just want her to be happy and have a good future. Since kindergarten, Mo was best friends with Naomi Fishmier, who aspires to be a journalist. Mo is part of many extracurricular activities, such as debate team, double bass lessons and advanced classes. Beneath her appearance, Mo is more than just a perfect, pretty face whose goal is to become daddy's little girl: she wants independence, a song, and, most of all, a great boy to love her, like every other American girl. She begins dating Scott Pickett in the beginning of the year until she caught him cheating. From the beginning of her freshman year of high school, Mo made it her soul purpose to do whatever it took to make her parents happy and proud of her. 'Book 1: Mo is introduced as a popular student at Opequonsett High who is dating the school's heartthrob soccer player, Scott Pickett, who is the drummer of popular local rock band, Mudslide Crush. Later, while the two are making out in the bushes, Mo and Scott are caught by a teacher, and the two end up getting detention. In the detention room, Mo, Olivia, Stella, Charlie and Wen are fooling around by playing a song heard in a radio commercial. The next day, expecting to be in trouble, Mo and the others are shocked that Mrs. Reznik wants them to form a band. Mo, busy with her boyfriend, A.P classes, bass instructions with Mrs. Reznik and working at her family's Indian grocery store, refuses to do so. A couple days later, Mo gets called down to Bruno's Pizza Planet by Stella, who wants to form the band. Mo is unsure about this, but finally agrees if everyone else would do it, too. At rehearsal, the five don't get along, but soon learn how to work together. That night, Mo is at a beginning-of-the-year party for Mudslide Crush, with Scott. While making out, Mo over-hears Ray Beech talking to his girlfriend, Patty Norris, about a band cutting Mudslide Crush's set at the school's Halloween Bash short. Mo asks Scott what's going on, and Scott tells Mo about how Stella convinced Brenigan, the vice-principal, to let Stella, Mo, Olivia, Charlie and Wen perform at the Bash. Mo asks Scott if he knows who's in this band and he simply says, "I only heard about Stella and that loser Charlie Hirsh. Oh, and Olivia Whitehead. Now there's a real whack-job." Mo, upset that Scott insulted her band mates the way he did, simply says she's one of those freaks and she doesn't care what Ray and his friends think because she came to enjoy participating in the band. The two begin to fight, but make up after kissing each other. After the band can't decide on a name, rumors fly about them cutting Mudslide Crush's show. Mo and Charlie soon catch Ray Beech, picking on Olivia physically and emotionally, causing Olivia go into her shell to try and push Ray away, making it clear that she is feeling uncomfortable. Mo gets upset when Ray continues to pressure Olivia, and ends up being the first one to confront him, as a result of Ray calling her Benedict Arnold. Stella then goes to defend them, and spits her lemonade in the bully's face, which earns them their band name. Mo's father soon becomes concerned about his daughter spending time with Charlie, afraid that they might be getting serious. Mo is skeptical and assures her dad she has no feeling for Charlie what so ever. A few days before the Bash, Mo and the others discover that the Mel's Organic Frozen Lemonade machine will be getting removed from school property due to a deal with a soda company sponsoring for the new gym. Later, Mo tearfully tells Charlie that Scott dumped her for his old girlfriend, Lynn Westerberg. At the Bash, the band members take the stage and everybody is impressed by their new sound and unique style in music and how they got it put together. Stella makes a speech opposing the decisions for the school, and Brenigan shuts them down. Later, Mo and the others go to Olivia's house to comfort her after one of her cats, Nancy, dies. After worrying about what Brenigan will do to them, they spill out their troubles. Mo admits that she feels that she doesn't belong anywhere because she was born in India and got brought up in an American culture. The fallowing Monday, Mo and her friends get called down to Brenigan's office, where he tells them that they were indicating people when Stella made her speech. He doesn't susspend them, but gives them a week of detention and forbids them from performing in any school activities. Later, to Mo's horror, she discovers she is in love with Charlie, and from then on, swears to God on her mother's grave that she is done with the lying and sneaking around behind her parents' backs. Lyle Dwarkin, Charlie's friend, helps them out by selling Lemonade Mouth CD's and getting them a gig at Bruno's Pizza Planet, which skyrockets their popularity. But as things get brighter for Lemonade Mouth, things start falling apart. Piece by Piece. One disaster at a time. It starts with Mo getting sick with a fever of hundred and two. She gets a call from Stella on the day of battle of the bands, Catch a RI-Zing Star, who informs her that the Mel's machine at the middle school is going to be removed. On her way out of the house, Mo and her dad get into a heated fight, and Mo shouts that although she respects her parents, she will never by perfect and states that she loves Charlie as more than a friend and would not want to do anything to hurt him. At the Opequonsett Middle School, the band members get into an argument with the men removing the machine. Police arrive and the group is arrested. At Catch a RI-Zing Star, Mo and the others attempt to perform one of their songs, but nobody could play due to their injuries. As they start to leave, the kids in the audience start to sing the song and give Lemonade Mouth a standing ovation. Later on, Mo's parents tell her they will try to accept her new-found independence. Mo tells Charlie that she is in love with him, kisses him, and the two begin dating. '''Book 2: In the second book, Mo and Charlie are an official couple. Mo soon learns that her old next door neighbor, Rajeev Kumar, is going to be staying with her and her family for six weeks to get used to life in America. He and Mo hit it off, talking about their love for music, plans to go their own path and not wanting to end up getting married at the age of eighteen. Their constant spending time together worries Charlie, who begins to get jealous and ends up confronting Mo. Mo assures him, but Charlie is still feeling insecure. He later apologizes to Mo for his hostile behavior. When Lemonade Mouth ends up becoming clients for Earl Decker, a highly demanding music agent, they are initially excited about this: the idea of sold out tours and albums. The kids agree to do an ad, but immediately change their minds when they learn the ad is being used to make Lemonade Mouth into something that's not normal, but flawless, with the people turning Mo's eyes green. They somehow manage to stand up for themselves and show that they are like the second generation of Lady Gaga and after Stella says nobody will own Lemonade Mouth, they do exactly what Taylor Swift did: walk away, and become successful without the money and designer clothes. They eventually clear things up with Mudslide Crush, settling all rifts between the two bands. Personality: Mo is portrayed as an intelligent, hard-working Indian girl who is from Calcutta, the land of arranged marriage. On top of her academic grades, she is soft-hearted, kind, sweet, beautiful and perhaps sometimes a little shy and naive. She is extremely vocal about her opinions and what she wants in life, and nothing is going to stop her from getting to the other side, which is finding a great boy to love her and becoming a successful bassist. Best friends with Charlie, she is also in love with him and cares for him, such as when she yells at her dad saying that she likes Charlie a lot and wishes to be with him, but at the same time doesn't want her dad miserable. Mo loves being able to fly free like a butterfly and is happy when she gets to spend time with her band mates, as they are the only people she feels she can be herself around, rather than at home, where her parents practically look over her shoulder every time she moves. Mo is very protective of her Hindu roots and hates to do anything to disappoint her parents and will do just about anything to make her mother and father proud. In the first book, Mo goes through an identity crisis, and while dating Scott Pickett, Mo found herself struggling with peer pressure, as Scott had his ways of manipulating the sweet but naive Mo, such as persuading her to drink alcohol underage for the first time, convincing her into skipping class with him so they could make-out in the bushes behind the gym, and, worst of all, making her think that he was actually in love with her, but in reality, he was using her exotic beauty and kindness to make his ex-girlfriend, Lynn Westerberg, jealous. Although usually very sweet, she can sometimes be seen as judgmental, as seen when she says, "Supergirl doesn't get stuck with a bunch of losers in detention." However, her occasional misunderstanding towards people seems to soften when she begins to growing fond of Stella and having a liking of Olivia. Her best friend is Naomi Fishmeir, which is a hugely known fact, as no matter how many stupid decisions Mo makes, Naomi always seems to bring out the best in her. Despite being tiny and a little shy, whenever any of her friends are being pushed or harassed, Mo will not hesitate to confront others, as shown when she steps up and, along with Charlie, confronts Ray about his treatment of Olivia. Both Mo and Charlie apear to be very angry and upset about the bullying. This kind of action is also shown at Bruno's Pizza Planet when she glares at Ray for calling her "Hot Curry"----meaning sexy and/or a slut, which she resents being labeled as. Mo doesn't like seeing people sad, and will comfort those who are hurting, such as when Olivia is depressed over her cat, Nancy, dying, and Mo goes over to her house to comfort her. She also helps Charlie comfort Wen when he is insecure over his father hiring her ex-boyfriend. Mo also comforts Stella when Rajeev, her boyfriend, leaves for Texas, and helps her through her insecurities of a long-distanced relationship. Appearance: Mo is described as gorgeous, small, slim and dark skinned, with long, straight, shiny crow black hair and milk chocolate brown eyes. Mo is the most girly, compared to Olivia and Stella whom just throw together dresses with blazers, skirts with T-shirts, and jeans with satin blouses at the last minute. Quotes: Um. . . . fine. . . Baba. Scott Pickett don't be such an arrogant jerk! It was a kiss. And you want to know how it felt? He's cute. Does he like you? How can you tell? What's the matter with you, Ray? You're acting like a complete creep! Was it you who sent us that mobeil thing downstairs? Wait until Scott finds out about this! What's going on here Ray? Let me go, Baba! Stop pushing me! And stop trying to make me into your perfect little Bengali girl! That's not who I am! It's not who I'll ever be! Okay, we get it, but shouldn't Lemonade Mouth's message come from us? The band? I mean, it's not like we're really a product, right? Like a pair of sneakers or something? Category:Book characters